


The Mirror's Edge

by CaptainCrimson



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:14:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12680763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainCrimson/pseuds/CaptainCrimson
Summary: Jack Sparrow has seen things most men can only dream of. He seems to draw the strange and supernatural to him, which proves truer than ever as finds himself unwittingly in love, and helping a new friend. In the midst of his journey he begins to wonder if living forever is what he really wants as he's forced to look inward and face himself without the mask he's been wearing most of his life.





	The Mirror's Edge

When I did think about falling in love and getting married the man in my head had unremarkable features, and hair that particular shade of brown that no one ever pays any mind to. He wore plain clothing and had a plain job as a miller or farmer. The man in my head, he was kind, quiet, and he was safe, stable, secure. But I wasn’t looking to fall in love. Not for a long time anyway. I had time. A whole lot more than most people did.  
I was nineteen years old that night, I owned my own tavern and I had more than a handful of employees.  
I didn’t need anyone. I didn’t want anyone.  
The night I met him he burst through the door with the wind raging behind him, water dripping from his hat and clinging to his dreads in little beads that shone in the light. He seemed to pause for the briefest of moments, taking in his surroundings with a peculiar tilt of his head. Making his way to the bar of my establishment he moved like confused ocean waves, not made for the ground beneath him. He leaned over the counter, one dirt darkened, filthy hand sliding across it in a way that was familiar, his long be-ringed fingers spread wide. I was at once repulsed and half frozen as every nerve in my body vibrated with emotions I couldn’t have possibly began to unravel in those few seconds.  
“Rum, dahling.” His voice was like honey and gravel and it snapped me out of my stare. His eyes, lined with black kohl, were deep brown when they caught the light, and pools of ink when he turned them to shadow. I could see years in them, stories, and truths behind lies. He was dangerous in the most alluring ways. Part of the problem was that he didn’t even realize it.  
He asked me my name. I told him my first name. He told me his without my asking and he scowled when I didn’t recognize it, his lips pursing, one side of his jaw bulging out slightly. I hated that I noticed everything about him.  
The scowl only lasted seconds. He grinned. He was quicker to smile than scowl but those smiles never touched his eyes with any true sincerity. He leaned over the counter, eagerness and hunger exuding from every edge of him. “Melody,” he wrapped his lips around every syllable he spoke. “Make love to me, dahling?” He almost whispered. No one was subtle in Tortuga. I was used to grabbing hands and slurred requests for salacious activities in stolen corners and dark rooms. I always said no. I always pushed them off. This one didn’t even touch me, but the confidence and look blatantly advertising his _need_ for me made me hate him more than anyone else who’d ever tried.  
Or maybe I hated him because for the first time in my life some small part of me wanted to say yes.  
I told him what I told everyone who asked.  
“Go fuck yourself.”  
I wouldn’t understand till years later why he looked like I’d shattered him.  
That night I didn’t care. I didn’t care for a long, long time.

* * *  
_Five Years Later_

“You know that won’t work, right?” I set his plate in front of him and put one hand on my hip, staring at him with my eyebrows up and my lips pursed. From the corner of my eye I made sure that Beth delivered Calvin’s meal to him.  
Jack smirked and there was admiration in his eyes. It had become a common thing to see in his eyes, that admiration. The way he looked at me was as unnerving as it had always been and at no point in all the years that he’d been returning to my tavern had it’s affect on me lessened. That was perhaps why I’d stopped telling him to go fuck himself, even though he’d never stopped asking me to make love to him. I hadn’t stopped saying no. And I wouldn’t.  
He’d never touched me, like the other men tried to do. Not once had he tried to grab me or even put his hand over mine. For that reason alone I’d stopped hating him. And now he was somewhere on the edge of being my friend.  
“I know,” he pulled his plate closer and picked up his fork. I glanced from his eyes to his fingers and then turned away. They were cleaner these days, than they had been that first night I’d met him. I suspected Calvin had something to do with it.  
“Then why do you keep asking? You’ve been asking for years. I’ve never said yes and I never will.” I was supposed to be putting away dishes back in the kitchen. I owned the place but I didn’t believe in not pulling my weight in the work.  
He shrugged one shoulder, still wearing a little smirk. “In the vain hope that one day you’ll say yes.”  
I snorted derisively, but I admired his tenacity.  
Jade came around the door from the kitchen, her red hair tied into a messy knot at the back of her head. It didn’t detract from her appearance at all, only enhanced it. “Melody, I forgot when the little pots go,” she said in her sweet voice. I noticed Jack noticing her and as I headed for the kitchen I said to him, “no.”  
He sat back, his eyes widening. Aghast he said, “I wasn’t . . . I don’t want her!”  
Jade gave him a strange look and followed me to the kitchen. “Is that him?” she asked me, scratching one freckled cheek. “The one that’s in love with you?”  
I pulled the potatoes off the stove and shoved my sleeves up my arms before I started hanging the pots in their proper places. “He’s not in love with me. But yes, that’s him. He won’t try anything. He might ask, but he won’t touch you.”  
“I’m not worried.” Jade was washing wooden plates and she sounded calm as she always did. She hadn’t been in my employ long but she was fast becoming my friend. Her presence was soothing and she needed less looking after than a lot of the young women who’d worked for me. “He just looked confused when he saw me, not lusting.”  
“Confused?” I turned around, pausing in my work. “Why would he be confused?”  
“I have no idea.” She sounded like she absolutely couldn’t care less. Shooting me a grin she whisked past me to put the plates away. It was past two in the morning and Jack had just made it in and bought a room for the night before I’d closed and locked the doors. “Who’s the boy with him?” Jade peeked out the doorway. I stood next to her and did the same. Across the room at a corner table was a teenaged boy with gold hair and a grin that could light up the darkest of rooms. He was playing cards with another of the evening’s tenants and his laughter carried, a sound that reminded me of sunlight bouncing off of yellow autumn leaves; a sight I hadn’t seen since I’d left England six and a half years earlier.  
“Calvin,” I answered. Jack had been bringing Calvin to the tavern with him almost the whole time I’d known him. Four years now, if I recalled right. The last year though Calvin had come with Jack every time, not just once in a while. “He’s the cabin boy on Jack’s ship.”  
“He’s very pretty, isn’t he?” Jade mentioned.  
“He is,” I nodded. Calvin was quite young. But then so was Jade. It wouldn’t do her any good though, if she was thinking what I suspected she might be thinking. “Outside and in. He’s one of the kindest most sincere people I know. But he’s not what you want.”  
“I don’t want him,” Jade said absently. “But why do you say that?”  
“Believe it or not,” I couldn’t help the irritation in my voice. I was still trying to work out my own feelings on the subject. “He’s madly in love with Jack, who is, even weirder, in love with him.”  
Jade didn’t seem at all surprised by this revelation. “But he’s in love with you, Jack I mean.”  
“He’s not in love with me.” I went back to the dishes and finished putting them away, exhaustion washing over me suddenly in a wave, making my bones feel heavy.  
“I’m certain he is. I suppose someone can be in love with two people though. How old is Calvin?”  
“Seventeen. I thought Jack might be using him and after I learned they were together last year I pulled the boy aside and asked him if he was alright and if he needed help. He told me with his perfect, beautiful smile that he was brilliant and that he’d been the one to instigate the relationship. I wanted to think he was lying but I don’t think he’s ever told a lie in his life.” I began wiping the counters down a little too forcefully.  
Jade giggled and I sighed. She was still watching out the door of the kitchen. “Did Calvin eat?” she asked, considerate as ever. I was still attempting to decipher if she was air headed or if she just didn’t focus on things she didn’t care to. She’d only been working for me for a month.  
“Yes. He got his meal the same time Jack did.”  
“Why did you let them in right at closing? And still make them a meal?” Jade had finally left the doorway and was tucking the stools under the work table.  
“Because Jack pays better than anyone else who comes to this place. He always gives more than is asked for.” I finally felt like my kitchen was clean enough and I tossed the dirty rags into a hamper to be washed tomorrow when Sara came in. “It’s bed time.”  
Jade agreed and came to me. She was taller than me, most people were, and she smiled down at me. “Goodnight, Melody. Thank you.”  
“For what, sweetheart?” Jade was a sweetheart. Her bright green eyes were soft and kind. I was amazed she’d retained that knowing the kinds of things she must have seen where she’d grown up. In that regard I admired her deeply. I’d always had trouble with kindness, especially the last few years.  
“For everything. I’ll see you in the morning.” She hugged me and while I didn’t consider myself a hugger, a hug from Jade felt nice. I smiled.  
“Goodnight,” I told her as she left the room. I doused all the bright kitchen lamps and went out into the common room. Jack and Calvin had finished their meals and Calvin had stacked their plates and utensils neatly on the counter. They were the only two left in the room, sitting on stools at the bar side by side, Calvin looking sleepy with his curly head against Jack’s shoulder. Jack had his arm loosely around Calvin’s shoulders and was still nursing the mug of rum he’d paid for.  
“Calvin you look like you’re about to fall over,” I mentioned as I began dousing lamps and blowing out candles.  
“Huh?” he opened his eyes and grinned. “Oh yeh.” He yawned. “Bu’ ah won’,” he mumbled happily, keeping his head on Jack’s shoulder.  
I only raised an eyebrow as Jack smiled. His smiles were the most sincere when Calvin was with him.  
“Why are you still up? Get him to bed Jack before he passes out.”  
“If he passes out I’ll carry him,” Jack chuckled.  
“Ah wouldn’ min’ tha’,” Calvin giggled. “Bu’ ah’m almos’ as tall as you now so you migh’ fall ovah yerself.”  
I rolled my eyes. It was true. Jack wasn’t tall, but average height, and at the rate Calvin was growing I was sure he’d surpass Jack soon.  
“And anyway,” Jack went on. “You didn’t give us our key.”  
“Oh. Dammit. Sorry.” My face betrayed me and my cheeks went hot. I went into the back again and snatched the key to room 13 off the hook. I returned to them and tossed it onto the counter. Jack set down his empty mug as Calvin picked up the key and got to his feet. He stretched and yawned again.  
“Fanks Melody,” he said with a warm, gold eyed smile. There was no power on earth that could stop me from smiling back at him. I’d meant what I’d said to Jade. Calvin was pure goodness wrapped in a human case.  
“You’re welcome. Goodnight.”  
“G’night, love,” Jack tipped his head to me and I ignored that longing look in his eyes that had never gone away. I wasn’t sure it mattered anymore anyway. Because the look he gave Calvin was just as longing, as well as adoring and deeply sincere. After they’d ascended the stairs I went to douse the last lamp by the front door and double check it was locked. A shadowy figure shifted in the night, catching my eye through the window. It slumped into an alley and my heart jumped into my throat, a cold shiver slithering down my spine.  
But this was Tortuga. There were shadows wandering the streets at all hours.  
I scolded myself, but checked the door one more time before I hurried up to my own bed.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is kind of a personal thing I've been wanting to write down for years. It's more of an emotional and psychological journey than an adventurous one, although there will be some adventure if it goes like I planned. The Legend of Zelda element is a side thing. It's not the main focus.  
> The story PoV's will switch. I'll be sure it's not confusing however.  
> Also the underage relationship here is dependent on where you live. The character is 17 and in some places 16 is the legal age. I would feel horribly uncomfortable myself with anything younger than that.  
> Enjoy!


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